Accounting for Inequality in India: Evidence from Household Expenditures

J. Salcedo Cain, Rana Hasan (), Rhoda Magsombol and Ajay Tandon
Additional contact information
J. Salcedo Cain: Asian Development Bank
Rana Hasan: Asian Development Bank
Rhoda Magsombol: Asian Development Bank
Ajay Tandon: World Bank

No 117, ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank

Abstract: The paper utilizes consumption expenditure data from India's National Sample Survey to shed light on the evolution of inequality between 1983 and 2004. Various measures of inequality show that inequality levels were relatively stable between 1983 and 1993, but increased between 1993 and 2004. However, the increases in inequality have not precluded reductions in poverty. They are also more of urban phenomena and can be accounted for by increased labor market returns to college education, especially among professional, technical, and managerial occupations. These findings are consistent with the importance of services, especially modern services, in driving economic growth in India. They also suggest that for the benefits of growth to be spread wider, greater dynamism in Indian agriculture and manufacturing will be essential.

Keywords: consumption expenditure; economic growth; India; inequality; poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I32 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2008-06-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.adb.org/publications/accounting-inequa ... usehold-expenditures Full text (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:adbewp:0117

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Orlee Velarde ().